US Corn not ready to eat yet. Hopefully in a few weeks.
Green market meh. Haven't really has the taste of summer yet. Ramps not that good this year.
Strawberries got moldy quick.
Haven't tried the Rhubarb yet.
Water needed to grow corn in Illinois falls naturally as rain, while water used to produce ethanol usually is pumped from a water source, such as a river, lake, or underground aquifer. The amount of water pumped from these sources has been a cause of concern for some consumers and communities. Let’s take a look at water usage to produce ethanol.
Ethanol Production
Ethanol production facilities have improved their water efficiency over time. They currently
use approximately three gallons of water to produce a gallon of ethanol.




This is down from 5.8 gallons of water:
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Exposed rock is seen near intake tubes at Hoover Dam, where water levels have declined dramatically in Boulder City, Nevada, on April 17, 2022.
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The summary in the new report also states,
“Increasing bioenergy crop cultivation poses risks to ecosystems and biodiversity” (
WGIII).
The report lists many potential negative risks of development, such as direct conflicts between land for fuels and land for food, other land-use changes, water scarcity, loss of biodiversity and
nitrogen pollution through the excessive use of fertilizers (
Scientific American).
The International Institute for Sustainable Development was not so diplomatic, and estimates that the CO2 and climate benefits from replacing petroleum fuels with biofuels like ethanol are basically zero (
IISD). They claim that it would be almost 100 times more effective, and much less costly, to significantly reduce vehicle emissions through more stringent standards, and to increase CAFE standards on all cars and light trucks to over 40 miles per gallon as was done in Japan just a few years ago.
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Polluting Biorefineries
Ethanol production is very energy intensive, requiring mini-power plants just to produce the steam they need. Some proposed ethanol plants have sought to locate next to existing trash incinerators, coal or waste coal power plants or other industries capable of sharing steam with their new industrial neighbors. This may save energy, but it results in the concentrating of polluting industries in
already poisoned communities. Most ethanol plants have their own power production facilities,
usually burning natural gas,




but some have been coal-powered.